Fire and ice
by chloemcg
Summary: Natsu and Gray find themselves on the same mission with their small children and end up competing to see who can finish it first, but the two Fairy tail wizards end up having to work together when their two younglings get into grave trouble.
1. Mission with Nashi

**Disclaimer: I don't own Natsu nor Gray, I kind of own Nashi and Platinum but not really. I own NONE of the other characters in Fairy tail since they belong to Hiro Mashima and nobody else.**

 **Fire and ice**

* * *

Natsu Dragneel knew that he'd never love trains for as long as he drew breath.

Each time he'd step on to one, walk into a booth and settle himself down in one of the seats, he'd feel as though he would be trapped inside some sort of rumbling glass box. The very thought of any kind of vehicle or any form of transportation made his stomach clench and his face turn shades of green that shouldn't be humanly possible.

He'd feel very claustrophobic.

For about two hours now, he had to stay in this hell of a ride with his gut flipping on itself over and over and over again.

He hung his head lowly, feeling his poor stomach do another flip as the seats bumped a tiny bit inside the train cabin. He had an agonised look on his now pale green face as his motion sickness left his body a huge wreck and he couldn't help but moan in discomfort. He felt dreadful and he wanted nothing more than to make a desperate jump out of the nearest window and walk the rest of the way there.

But, ever since his daughter had been born, he had found a way to sort of distract himself from his misery.

Yet it was not as effective today.

The fire Dragon slayer wizard had been doing a few requests at the Fairy Tail guild lately to try and earn a few extra jewels to try and support his wife, Lucy Heartfilia, and his very young daughter, Nashi; Unfortunately Lucy had to stay behind in Magnolia to do some stuff with her Celestial spirit friends along with Happy, to take a small break from motherhood and having a little bit of relief for a day. The rest of the guild were very busy and that meant that little Nashi, only a year and a half old, had to go on a job with her father.

This mission was to acquire a feather from a rare species of bird and, since that seemed safe enough, Natsu decided that it was the perfect daddy-daughter trip.

Little Nashi was seated on the pink-haired Fire wizard's lap and was obliviously chewing contentedly on one of the ends of his scarf. She let out the giggle while she sat on her father's knee, being bounced by the train on the rather bumpy train tracks, and she couldn't help but look up at the pink-haired Fire wizard's face with the end of one scaly scarf tail —tassels and all— stuffed in her mouth.

The infant was wearing a small pink onesie, it was a few shades lighter and more vibrant then her hair, and it was decorated with a unique pattern of pink stars and faint red dragon cartoons, the perfect outfit to compliment her parents. The onesie was buttoned up at the front and was quite thick and fluffy as to keep her warm and looking quite cute.

The nauseated Natsu looked down and saw his daughter's face.

Nashi's large brown eyes filled with childish innocence softened as she made a "hmm?" noise whilst she tilted her head to one side, seeming worried for the grownup with the spiky pink hair. She sat on his strong knee and watched with keen interest as he closed his eyes for a moment and held back as much of his nausea as he could whilst he held one hand on his stomach and proceeded to use the other to ruffle Nashi's pink hair playfully.

Natsu smiled weakly as he did this.

"It's...okay, sweetie, d-daddy...daddy's gonna be fine..."

It was after mumbling this that he immediately blanched.

Nashi giggled when she saw the look on the Dragon slayer's face, thinking that he was trying to full some faces for her amusement. Natsu felt his cheeks puff out he felt the feeling of bile bubble in his throat and threaten to spew right out of his mouth and it took everything he had to reign it back and steady himself as he reclined in his seat and held his little girl to his chest, trying to focus solely on her and trying not to throw up in the train. Thankfully she seemed none the wiser to his pitiful state and he hoped that Nashi wouldn't have to suffer with this too when she got older and her magic got more powerful.

He swallowed and started to feel as floppy as a banana peel.

"Uuuuugh..." He bemoaned pitifully, his tummy clenching painfully, "...I hate trains..."

Natsu looked down at Nashi, whom started rubbing her head affectionately against his strong and well-toned chest whilst making coos of the purest form of contentment. It was the one and only thing that made the salmon pink-haired dragon slayer smile in spite of the horrendous throes of motion sickness he had to go through each and every time he was unfortunate enough to have to go on a vehicle.

He held his child close to him as though she were his lifeline and he sighed beneath his breath, trying his best to hold back the dam of sick that threatened to burst.

"I can't wait until you get older... _ulp_...because then we can walk everywhere..."

* * *

After a train ride that lasted three hours, the fire wizard found himself in a small but lively village that was close to some mountains.

The mountains were tall and craggy and stretched out on the horizon —they sort of reminded him of the mountains he and Igneel lived...but he decided not to focus on that, but it was where Natsu had decided to gather some items before he made his attempt to find that bird and grab that feather.

Since he knew that holding Nashi in his arms for the entire way there wasn't possible nor was putting her down, he had decided to use his scarf as a means to strap young Nashi to his back, making sure to wrap it around his mid-chest region so as to properly secure her. Thankfully the scarf's tough but cozy and always-warm material was good enough to keep his precious bundle close to him so he didn't need to worry about it making her uncomfortable or anything.

The village was bustling as the sounds of like a billion voices intermingled with each other, calling out for sale advertisements and people chatting and townsfolk going about their everyday lives and, as far as villages went, this seemed like s pretty peaceful (albeit noisy) place.

The Fairy tail mage and his daughter weaved through the crowd, Natsu jostling about to try and find a place to restock his supplies to get ready to go on the mission. He surveyed his surroundings to find a good place to do just that and then his eyes landed upon a small hut a little distance away. It looked rather run down but he could smell the

"Alrightie, Nash-Nash! Let's go and get us a bite and then go and roast us a birdie!"

Natsu was delighted to hear some high-pitched giggling beside his sensitive ear and he couldn't help but peak over his shoulder and smile at Nashi, his brows quirking as he shrugged his shoulders to intentionally give his daughter a little upwards jerk, eliciting a squeal of delight from the year-and-a-half old infant with pink, short, sleek yet spiky hair.

"Papa!" The child cheered.

"Heh! That's my girl!"

He approached a small wooden hut that appeared to have been an inn, the faded scratch lines etched into the sign out front made that obvious, and made his way to the front door; he stopped in front of it and reached forwards and used one hand to swing it open and barged his way through.

He was beheld by a rather large room that sort of reminded him of the Fairy tail guildhall.

There were tables and a counter and there was even a pool table where a few customers were playing the game with their pool cues at the ready, there was a counter where a barmaid was serving a few men and women their wines and beers along with other such beverages and Natsu was almost swept away by the smells and the sounds, his Dragon slayer ears picked up the "clinks" of glasses, the voices of pub-goers and adventurers and maybe even the odd cutthroat.

The strong scent of beer hung around the place along with the sweet smell of nectar and he could also pick up a scent that he sort of recognised.

Natsu ignored it, though, and he simply made his way over to the counter as he used a bounce in his step to appease the little toddler strapped to his back; Nashi let out trilling giggles as she bounced up and down with each step her father made, hearing his sandled-feet clop against the floor below.

His scaly scarf tails swished as he practically cantered towards the counter and when he gazed across the wooden surface, he was met with several glances from nearby men whom were mostly too indulged in their drinks to take much notice of the pink-haired pair. One or two sent looks of surprise or indifference, some even scrunched their faces at him in confusion as though they seemed to recognise him.

The bar maid looked up at the pink-haired pyro and eyed him casually.

"Hmm? What're you here for?" She asked.

Natsu leaned across the counter, reaching into one of his pockets and pulling out a small bag of jewels. He dropped it on the wooden surface in front of him and he replied to the question with as much politeness as he could.

"We're here for some drinks and to grab some stuff to go."

The woman just stared at him blankly. She had short hazel brown hair and had piercing, golden honey eyes that almost burned into his soul and she wore a bland pink dress with an apron that was tied at the back with a pretty yellow ribbon. The bar maid had a look of slight disinterest on her thin face as she looked the fire Dragon slayer over, scaly scarf included.

It wasn't until she spotted the red Fairy tail emblem that marked his upper left arm that her eyes lit up in recognition.

"Oh. You're Natsu Dragneel of Fairy tail, aren't you?"

Natsu smirked.

It seemed that his reputation proceeded him...

Then the maiden asked as she clapped her hands together, even though she still didn't seem all that interested. "You must be here to meet up with your friend."

Natsu's smirk dropped into a rather large frown of both perplexity and confusion. Friend? What did she mean? And how could she assume such a tone while looking like she couldn't give a dragons wing about any of this? Who was this friend she spoke of?

To answer that last question that raced through his mind, the bar maiden started to scrub a chalice with a damp rag and then used her gaze to point at a table not too far away from where Natsu was standing. His heart dropped into his stomach as he absentmindedly unstrapped Nashi from his back and took her into both of his embrace.

"What! Ice princess, what're you doing here!?" Natsu exclaimed as he spotted a certain ice-maker mage across the way.

Gray seemed just as stunned.

"I should be asking you the same question, Flame brain!"

Natsu held his giggling pink-haired daughter in his arms as he carried her over to the table to greet Gray and Juvia's child, who had been promptly named Platinum Silver Fulbuster. Gray said that Juvia and himself named him Platinum because it was an awesome name but Natsu suspected that it was really because the family was running out of colours that resembled the colour...

The pink-haired Fire wizard held his young daughter in his arms as he sat at the table where the ice wizard was also seated, bouncing his son on his knee to entertain him.

As the two rival wizards talked when they saw each other, their two children could not help but seem intrigued and curious whence they spotted one another.

The younger boy, whom was a few months old, had pale skin, a head full of thick and bushy Prussian blue hair and rather large obsidian/blue eyes that had eyelashes beneath and he was wearing a thick onesie that had a big fluffy collar engulfing his little neck.

Platinum had this air of shyness as he seemed to try hiding away from the older girl that was smiling happily at him but he just hid his face partially in his collar.

Natsu stared dumbfoundedly at Gray.

"Don't tell me. You're on the same mission as me?"

The ice-maker Fairy tail wizard shrugged his shoulders, his own look of dumbfoundedness etched upon his face as he glared lamely up at the Fire wizard standing over both him and his son. He hadn't expected to see his frienemy here and he also didn't expect him to have his daughter there along for the ride.

Nashi giggled delightedly and then raised a chubby arm and pointed at the ice wizard.

"Unca Gway!"

Gray focused his attention on the young girl for a minute and smiled warmly up at her.

"Hey, Nashi."

He leaned forward as he readjusted Platinum so he was holding him close to his chest now and he proceeded to tickle Nashi's cheek lightly, causing a flurry of giggles to erupt from her cute little vocal chords, he loved the little girl and would even sometimes make her little ice sculptures with his magic to make her smile. When he finished tickling the small child, he proceeded to recline back in his seat and the small infant he held just huddled as close to his father as he could and Gray Just cradled his son to be as close as possible, he smiled as he felt the little ball of warmth snuggle against his cold body.

Then he returned to the matter at hand and glanced up at Natsu.

"So you're here for the stupid feather too?"

Natsu sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, it would seem like it."

Natsu couldn't believe it. Why did Frostbite have to show up? And what were the chances that they would take on the same request without each other knowing...and bringing their children along? To be honest he couldn't quite bring himself to believe that this was actually happening and he didn't want to tackle this when he just wanted this to be a special outing between his daughter and himself.

The fire dragon slayer closed his eyes, lowered his head and shook his head when he came to one conclusion to this one dilemma.

He raised his head again and looked his arch rival in the eye.

"Saaay, ice princess-punk? I've got a proposition."

That seemed to grab Gray's attention as he furrowed his brow with obvious intrigue.

"I'm listening..."

Natsu smirked and bared his fangs, his eyes flashing green with excitement, "What about a race."

Gray shrugged his shoulders again, which were completely bare now since he wasn't wearing a shirt anymore now that it had mysteriously seemed to vanish into thin air. Seeing this didn't shock Natsu in the least but he did have the sense of mind to cover his daughter's eyes with one hand.

"Dude, there are kids in the room and you're shirtless again! Not cool!"

Gray looked down and almost fell backwards in shock as he noticed that he was shirtless.

"DARN IT! Not again!"

Then Gray and Natsu glared at each other but they couldn't help but smirk aggressively at each other, shooting up to their feet as they pressed their foreheads to each other so their eyes were solely glowering on each of their obsidian pools. The two Fairy tail wizards practically drew sparks from the friction of how close they were, the aggressive energy between them building.

All eyes were on the two and their children.

"Here's what we'll do; we'll do a race to see whose gonna find that bird and feather and finish this mission first —the loser has to wear makeup for a week."

"Heh! You're on, Frosty!"

* * *

 **A/N: Here's the first chapter of this short story.**

 **I thought that I'd make it mostly about Natsu and Grays kids, Nashi and Platinum; I thought Platinum would be the perfect name for a Gruvia son.**

 **I hope you guys like it.**

 **Btw, FAIRY TAIL SEQUEL SERIES WHOOOOOOOOOOOOP! :** **D**

 **-Chloemcg**


	2. Ambush

**Disclaimer: I don't own Natsu nor Gray, I kind of own Nashi and Platinum but not really. I own NONE of the other characters in Fairy tail since they belong to Hiro Mashima and nobody else.**

 **Fire and ice**

* * *

Natsu and Gray started their ascent up the mountainous terrain.

The lengthy trek up the craggy mountainside and cliff face was long and odorous and they each had to practically dig their heels into the rocky terrain.

Natsu carried Nashi on his back and clenched his fangs tightly as he felt sweat drip down his face. Nashi seemed completely oblivious to her father's strain as he stalked up the mountain side with as much effort put into each step as possible. He was absolutely determined to get to the top of this mountain before Gray since they both saw a more urgent reason to get this mission finished as soon as possible, to get to the bird and to win their race and their bet.

The dragon slayer noticed that his daughter seemed very intrigued with her surroundings as she looked around and tried grabbing everything she saw, even if whatever was in her sights were far away.

Natsu couldn't wait until he could take her on more missions, especially since she had already started showing aptitude for Fire magic in spite of her young age. He couldn't wait to show her how to fight and how to defend herself and he certainly couldn't wait until Lucy, Happy, Nashi and himself were capable into getting into many more escapades together whilst they went on more Guild jobs.

The thought alone made him break out into a huge smile.

"I-Interesting sights up here, a-a-ain't there...?" Natsu huffed breathlessly, managing a weak fanged grin as he glanced up at his little girl.

Nashi cooed and giggled as she kicked about happily in spite of being strapped to her father's back with his scarf, she seemed thrilled about the prospect of this adventure and Natsu felt his heart melt into a puddle of mush whenever he saw his baby girl's reactions to every little trip they took together. She may have been half a year old already but she was still Natsu's precious little girl and he wasn't going to let anyone tell him any different, especially not when she become a grownup...which he hoped wouldn't be too soon.

He heard that, when it came to parenthood, that the years tended to fly by quickly but he hoped that those sayings were false.

Natsu continued his climb up the mountain and, as he walked, he started to feel a presence that made him feel a bit uneasy and he couldn't explain it. His smile dropped and he couldn't help but slowly duck his head in between his shoulders, this making his scarf crease and bunch up, and Nashi stopped giggling and started to be quiet. Why did he feel as though he were being followed by some dark presence...? The fire wizard's salmon pink hair started to sway in the strong winds that blew and he felt his heart start sinking into his stomach and his dark obsidian eyes grew watchful.

He kept climbing and he could hear the sounds of rocks crumbling under reach step he made.

But he could hear something else.

"Bwirdy...!"

Hearing his daughter chirp joyfully, Natsu quickly glanced up and realised that Nashi had spotted a large bird that seemed to be circling from above and he could tell that it was something special due to how large it appeared despite it being so high up and it's form silhouetted against the blazing sun. One part of him was impressed that his daughter spotted it, another part of him felt joy that it was probably the bird from the mission so he could grab that feather and finish the race before Gray, and a third part of him —a larger majority of him, in fact— felt frightened of why it was circling like that.

Why was it doing that?

In spite of the fear he felt, Natsu decided to seize the moment and take the opportunity to praise Nashi as he glanced over his shoulder and looked to her with as gentle a smile as he could muster despite their situation.

"That's right, Nash-Nash! It is a bird!" He crooned.

He felt his heart swell with pride for his daughter being so clever but then he noticed that the bird started to show indications of swooping down, and that made him shiver internally when he saw it. He didn't want this bird to pick him up because he worried that the result would be Nashi tumbling out from his DIY scarf-strap and then getting hurt and the pink-haired pyro refused to let that happen!

Nashi idly cooed as she seemed oblivious as to what was going on.

Natsu narrowed his eyes in a focused manner, changing from onyx to jade in an instant, as he clenched his fists and set them on fire with his body emitting an aura of determination. His eyes remained skyward, never taking his gaze off the shadowed form of the large bird for even a second.

"Hold on, Nashi! Daddy's gonna try and grab the feather!"

That was when the bird apparently made a dive towards both the Dragon slayer and his daughter.

Swooping down like a hawk, the bird screeched so loud that it caused the whole mountain to shake.

Natsu almost lost his balance and fell off the mountain side but he somehow kept it and jumped high into the air and he tried to grab the tail feathers of the large bird-of-prey.

It was by now that he could actually see it and tell what it looked like.

It was a giant bird with purple mixed with periwinkle blue feathers and elegant-looking crest feathers on his head that looked somewhat like a lions mane. It had a sharp beak that seemed so sharp that it made the most sharpest of swords edges look extremely dull in comparison. It had large indigo wings that had sharp-looking primary feathers, massive and sharp talons, and it had rainbow coloured tail feathers. The bird glared it's crimson stilted eyes at the two pinkettes and then let out a loud, ear drum-piercing squawk that sounded monstrous.

Natsu released the tail feathers with one hand and used it to cover one of his ears to block out the screeching of a noise that was like a cheese grater to his inner ear, the sharp noise becoming unbearable for his sharp ears. He momentarily glanced behind him to look at Nashi and realised that she didn't have any protection and just let out a loud howl of a cry but it wasn't really a cry born from pain but more from fear.

Natsu's eyes widened in panic and he cringed.

The squawk doubled with his daughter's loud crying made for a killer of a noise.

Quickly, Natsu reached behind him and shoved one of his fingers into Nashi's mouth and felt the wet grossness of saliva among other things as she suckled on it; his finger acted as a dummy to try and silence her and keep her cries muted. As she found herself sucking on her father's finger she seemed to instantly stop squalling and her eyelids dropped a bit with pure relaxed contentment.

Now the dragon slayer faced a dilemma: he was gripping on tight to the tail feathers with one hand and soothing Nashi with the other.

Now what could he do?

He looked down towards the ground below and realised that this bird had sped up their travelling process so now there was some forestland right beneath where they were flying and it seemed that this patch of green and tree life was at the upper half of the mountain, near the top. He had to snap his eyes shut and swallow to keep from getting motion sick again and to keep from having vertigo.

Regardless of that, though, he had an idea.

He knew he wouldn't be able to grab any feathers this time...

Swallowing, Natsu announced loudly, "Okay! This is where we get off!"

Without another word the pink-haired dragon slayer released the bird's tail feathers.

And down went the Fairy tail wizard and his daughter as they plummeted downwards and they fell so quickly that it only took seconds until they were tiny specks from what the bird could see as it stared down from where it was, flapping its huge wings to keep itself airborne. When the two vanished into the world of green foliage down below it let out a vengeful hiss before it turned around and flew away.

Thankfully neither Natsu nor Nashi were injured by the fall but their landing could have been better.

Onyx eyes opened when Natsu found that both himself and Nashi had landed on the top of a large pine tree and he was upside down and the fall made him feel strangely euphoric but also quite trembly so he tried to right his position as he turned himself so he could be sitting upright...but all that did was end up breaking the canopy branches that saved him and his daughter so they fell once again.

 _Snap! Crack! Snip! Snap!_

Those were the sounds that split Natsu's ears as he and Nashi made an unpleasant tumble towards the ground below; he landed to the ground with a loud "thud" and he found himself in yet another awkward position where he was laying on his back with his head on the ground and both his legs were leaning heavily up against the large, fat tree trunk.

He leaned his head back and got an upside down view of his surroundings.

Where was he?

Before he could think anything else, though, he heard the faint sounds of familiar giggling before he felt a lump drop down from above and land on his chest.

Hard.

He yelped out in pain when his upper half shot up and he looked down at what had fallen on him and what (or rather who) he saw made his eyes widen and his jaw drop to the grass. It was Nashi whom had fallen on him and she seemed in a much better mood then earlier as she was stretching her little arms out towards him.

She must have come out of the scarf during the fall.

Natsu didn't hesitate in grabbing his daughter and pulling her close to him, hugging her tightly as relief flooded his whole body like a massive set of waves lapping over a sandy beach shore. He swallowed back a huge lump that had formed in his throat as he choked on a sob that threatened to fly from his lips that started to quiver and tremble.

"O-Oh, Nashi! You're okay..."

Nashi cooed happily as she curled herself up into a ball and snuggled closely to her father's chest, gripping on to a strand of spiky pink hair while she was at it and she started tugging. Natsu winced a bit when he felt his daughter tug on his hair but he didn't mind much, this just further proved that she was alright. In the midst of all his emotions, though, he couldn't help but feel just a tiny bit infuriated and frustrated.

They were so close to getting that stupid feather but they lost the bird! He had been so close but then stuff had to happen and now Gray had probably tracked down the large bird and beaten him; he was going to be stuck wearing lipstick for a week.

He felt his arms shake and his fangs grit tightly as his jaw muscle tightened when he merely thought about it.

"Mmmmm...!"

Nashi let out a small whine of upset as she buried her face even further into Natsu's chest, nose-first.

Natsu instantly calmed down upon hearing his baby start whimpering like that, he didn't want to stress his beautiful girl out, not when she was with him! He forced his muscles to relax and he let loose a breath from the bottom of his lungs to try and get himself to calm down from his episode of silent vengeful brooding.

"Oh. Sorry, Nash-Nash, I didn't mean to get all tense like that..."

Nashi seemed to relax at her father's reassurance.

Natsu picked Nashi up into his hands, sliding his fingers beneath her underarms, and he brought her very close to his face as he pressed his nose against her tiny button one. The fire wizard crooned softly as he bounced her up and down in his hands to make her laugh —seriously, he would spend all day trying to get both his wife and his daughter to smile if he were given the chance. He loved how Nashi's eyes were almost exactly like Lucy's and he couldn't get over how beautiful she was.

"D'awww, you're so cute! Dada wuvs you so much! Yes he does, yes he-"

"Flame brain!?"

Natsu's eyes widened and his whole face turned as red as a ripe strawberry while he fought the urge to let out an exasperated sigh when his moment had been interrupted. He knew who it was who disturbed the moment between him and his precious little treasure and he instantly felt a fiery fury because of that alone. His smiling face dropping into a huge frown with glowering eyes and he turned to face the man responsible for ruining his precious moment.

Gray was panting heavily with Platinum cradled in his embrace, the boy had fallen peacefully asleep in his father's arms and seemed oblivious to all that was going on right now. He looked as though he'd ran a marathon with his cheeks reddened and he looked as though he were about to topple over and pass out on the spot and he looked as though he were in the midst of having a hot flush even though he normally had a freezing cold body temperature.

Natsu would have laughed were it not for the annoyance he felt towards the ice-maker wizard.

"How did...how did you...get here...so fast? And what...happened to...you?"

Natsu glanced up at his own head and only just noticed that there were about a dozen leaves, twigs and tree sap stuck in his salmon pink spikes of hair, and he also noticed that he was covered with more tree sap on the rest of his body. He must have looked like a sap-covered wreck right now. He then glanced over at the breathless Ice-maker mage with a look that would put even the darkest room to shame.

He replied with a voice as sharp as a pair of scissors.

"...None of your beeswax, Ice princess."

* * *

 **A/N: Here's the second chapter, guys! Hope you like it!** **:D**

 **Theres some more fluff in here, too.**

 **Please review and fave.**

 **-Chloemcg**


	3. Conflict

**Disclaimer: I don't own Natsu nor Gray, I kind of own Nashi and Platinum but not really. I own NONE of the other characters in Fairy tail since they belong to Hiro Mashima and nobody else.**

 **Fire and ice**

* * *

"So...mind telling me what you were doing in a tree with your daughter?" Gray asked as he wore a rather obnoxious smirk on his lips.

Natsu scowled darkly as he sat on the ground with Nashi seated on his lap.

He was covered in twigs and leaves and practically dripping with sticky tree sap. He felt gross like this and he wanted nothing more than to dive in the nearest river to wash himself off but there were other things on his mind, such as how he hated it when he saw such a look on Gray's face, it made him want to melt his stupid face off. Seeing such a smug, self-satisfied grin on the Ice princess' face made several veins of anger pop up on his face and neck and then pulsate with hot-headed fury.

"I just told you, you frosted jerk —it's none of your business!"

Gray just stood idly by, holding Platinum in his arms as he gave the Fire dragon slayer a blank glare. The area was silent for several moments save for some light gurgles as well as babbling from Nashi and the soft sound of breathing coming from Platinum.

"...Lemme guess: The bird that we need the feather from attacked you and Nashi, you decided to save yourselves by grabbing hold of it, do something stupid and let go of it and then you landed in a tree?"

Natsu finally stood up with his scowl darkening considerably when Gray hit the nail on the head, he could only raise one eyebrow in perplexed confusion and annoyance. How could he have known? Did he have psychic powers or something —like Warren? He would never admit it but he thought that it would be supremely awesome should Gray have had telepathy or something!

The half-naked, topless Ice maker wizard folded his arms and he responded to the Fire wizard's unvoiced question sassily.

"I did a little thing called "using your eyes", maybe you should try it sometime."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you're an idiot! You didn't need to grab the stupid bird!"

"Hey! I was ambushed, Ice princess, what was I supposed to do!?"

The two wizards from Fairy tail argued.

But then soft whimpering broke them from their argument momentarily.

Tears started to swell in Nashi's eyes as started to whimper out of boredom and, almost immediately, she found that her father had readjusted one of the arms holding her so he could let her have access to his hand; the half-a-year-old infant blinked the tears away and instantly started giggling and cooing when she started to occupy herself by simply playing with her father's fingers as well as his silver wedding ring.

Natsu, happy that his little girl was taken care of, simply returned to the matter at hand. "Anyways. Now that we kinda know where the bird is, where should we start looking?"

Gray simply shaking his head and started sighing to himself.

"Huuuuh...we try finding the overgrown chickens nest, you moron!"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?"

"I just can't wait to see your ugly face in makeup!"

Once again, more crying broke up their argument and the two stopped fighting and looked down at young Platinum. The little baby boy looked confused and scared about the loud arguing going on between his father and the pinkette.

Natsu sighed and calmed himself down.

He knew that he could not fight in front of innocent kids.

The fiery dragon slayer leaned in to stare at little Platinum but the instant Natsu got too close, though, he started to move away and hide his face further into Gray's chest. Practically oblivious to this, he put on the biggest smile he could put on and raised a hand to wave at the infant.

"Hey, little guy! What's up?"

Seeing the pink-haired wizard's big pointy fangs, though, only caused the boy to start crying as his eyes snapped shut and he opened his mouth as wide as he could. He let out loud shrieks of fear; it caused Natsu to jerk backwards with a startled expression plastering itself on his face. The dragon slayer was so startled that his eyes were almost wide enough to outright pop out of their sockets and he could feel his own heart race in surprise of seeing the young child start bawling his little head off.

"AAH! Oh jeez!"

"WHAT DID YA DO THAT FOR, PINKY!?" Gray yelled in an accusatory tone of voice, shouting over his son's cries.

Natsu tried defending himself, an incredulous expression replacing the look of startled fear he had on his face a moment ago. "I didn't mean to!"

It was true, he really didn't understand why this boy just started bawling his head off. He was normally a hit with children and they usually liked him...but then again he supposed that he probably shouldn't have been too surprised because this was _Gray's_ son.

But how was he supposed to know that the cute little pipsqueak was a total scaredy-cat?!

Gray sent a scathing scowl to his frienemy and started working on soothing his son, cradling him in his arms and bouncing him up and down and Platinum's ear-piercing shrieks started to dwindle into soft whimpers as a result, he started to apparently feel comforted as his stiffened little body seemed to relax and he snuffled feebly.

"There, there, Plat...its okay, you're fine..." The fairy tail ice wizard soothed.

Gray rocked his son to and fro with a slight bounce in his arms in order to try pacifying him and to get him to calm down. It only took a minute or so until little Platinum calmed down as he simply closed his eyes and lay his head up against his father's chest; he closed his large, adorable blue eyes and let out a quiet yet contented baby noise as he seemed to settle completely.

All was calm...or at least it was on the children's side of things.

Gray eyed his rival darkly. "You just had to show your fangs, didn't you?"

Natsu exclaimed in a surprisingly soft voice, trying his best to sound defensive but also mind his voice to avoid another outburst from either of their kids. "How was I supposed to know that the little tyke was easily frightened...!?"

Gray proceeded to stomp up to the fiery Dragon slayer and then proceeded to press his forehead forcefully against Natsu's his facial features becoming darker and darker with each passing second. Natsu returned the scowl and growled lowly as he, too, pressed his forehead against Gray's in retaliation and he couldn't help but feel his rage bubble up and his temper felt like a volcano about to erupt.

"Look, just because you're my best friend doesn't mean that I'm gonna go easy on you!"

"You wanna go!? Then LETS GO!"

"You're gonna wish you never asked, hot-head!"

The two rivals of Fairy tail snarled at each other challengingly, both eager to fight each other. By this point they had completely forgotten about their mission since they were simply itching to start brawling with each other, but they hadn't forgotten their children. They weren't going to risk them getting hurt. So, before anything, the two wizards quickly walked over towards a small little patch of grass where they figured their children would be safe until they finished their fight.

Gray and Natsu placed their respective kids down on the ground gently and Natsu knelt down before his daughter and winked playfully at her.

"Pay attention, munchkin, because Daddy's gonna show ya how to melt a half-naked icicle!"

Nashi just popped her thumb in her mouth and started sucking it, seeming confused by her father's words and Gray did the same thing before the two walked a small distance away so they could properly duke it out; it didn't take too long before the double-sided verbal lashing began.

Then verbal combat turned into physical combat and it all went downhill from there.

Natsu and Gray butted their heads together like a pair of goats again, they smooshed their cheeks together and gnashed their teeth/fangs in combative anger. Both pairs of already-narrowed onyx eyes glared icy flames at each other and the friction between them was so apparent that red sparks of violent fury literally fired from them.

Natsu threw a fiery punch at Gray and rammed his flaming fist into his jaw.

 **"FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!"**

Gray staggered backwards as he held his jaw where he had just been socked. He didn't seem to have seen that flaming punch coming but he quickly regained his posture, and curled one of his hands into a fist before slamming it into the palm of his other hand. The air around him froze over with this abruptly violent chill as the ice wizard yelled out, **"ICE-MAKE GIANT MALLET!"**

A giant mallet made of ice had formed in instants, it was so big that Gray almost couldn't carry it, before he slammed it down towards Natsu but the Dragon slayer was quick on his feet and barely leapt out of the way.

As the two fathers fought, Nashi and Platinum both sat on the ground beside each other.

The two younglings simply observed and watched as the battle between rivals ensued and the two seemed intrigued for about two minutes until they decided to focus on each other. Now, Nashi normally loved to watch a good display of violence as it provided her with a great source of entertainment but she was more intrigued with the other baby next to her.

Nashi glanced over at the younger infant and blinked her large curious eyes at him.

She outstretched a floppy podgy arm in front of Platinum and she held out the palm of her small hand. It produced a small blue flame with gold sparkles, the fire in her hand crackled and twinkled brilliantly as Nashi tried showing it to the young Fulbuster boy to which he responded to it by staring at it with an incredulous expression on his little chubby face.

He hesitated for a moment, still a bit shy and anxious to be in close proximity to the bigger girl.

Then, suddenly, a butterfly with vibrant purple wings fluttered up to the two children.

It instantly captured their attention, rather then the fight unfolding before them.

Platinum flinched when the flying insect fluttered above him and tears started to fill his eyes as he was obviously intimidated by the bug. He curled up into a tight ball. Alas his fear seemed to dissipate when the older girl reached over to pat his shoulder and seemed to try and reassure him, the little one-year-old girl watched as the younger boy seemed to come out of his shell slightly and stare timidly at her.

Nashi extinguished her blue flame and flashed the boy a large smile that revealed her tiny fangs that were still growing in and Platinum found himself timidly smiling back at her.

Then the pink-haired girl tried to reach her pudgy hands out to grab the butterfly.

The butterfly was elusive.

"Aaah...!"

Nashi was absolutely enchanted by the insect and smirked playfully and the pink-haired girl proceeded to crawl after it, babbling and giggling all the while and Platinum watched as the young girl shuffled away then decided to follow her as he got on his hands and knees and followed her as best as he could, the two babies crawling away without anyone noticing. They both crawled as the older girl chased after the butterfly that simply fluttered away from her as it unintentionally lured the two away from their feuding fathers.

Nashi and Platinum each tried to chase their little target as it twirled in the air and made a sharp u-turn and thus, catching the both of them off guard.

"Bubba! Bubba!" Nashi gurgled, trying to say "butterfly" but not getting the words quite right.

Platinum stared, also seeming rather curious of the hovering bug.

The two babies pursued the fluttering insect persistently, and eventually they started to realise that they had seemed to go further and further away in the woodland area of the craggy mountaintop. It seemed like a large jungle to them where the sun shone down upon their small forms and they seemed totally oblivious and distracted...that was until Platinum started to whine, tears swelling up in his large blue eyes.

The two stopped, forgetting about the butterfly completely.

Nashi glanced over to Platinum and frowned.

Clearly the poor boy was getting increasingly fearful and for very good reasons; both of them were now lost and didn't know where their fathers went and it was quite scary and intimidating, especially since the world around them got so much bigger and so much more darker.

"Waaah...!"

Nashi, too, started to begin sobbing as she frowned in what seemed to be worry and concern as she budged up close to the other frightened infant and then furled both of her pudgy arms around him to soothe him. She cooed as she hugged the scared younger child, rubbing her nose against his blue hair and she seemed to be trying to comfort him and trying not to be so scared herself.

"Pat-ti-num..." She uttered.

She hugged Platinum close to her, starting to whimper herself.

* * *

Both Ice and Fire wizards kept fighting, fiery fists colliding with Gray's face and icy fists colliding with Natsu's face; the two had been doing this for what felt like hours. They had been entirely focused on their squabble that they weren't able to focus on anything else and the scuffle had left the each of them covered in dirt and scratches and injuries.

The impact of each fist hitting each face sent the two flying backwards.

It was when they finally skidded to a halt on either side of the grassy, craggy, mountainous plains that they managed to get a good look at each other.

Natsu could feel muscle in his body ache in protest as he attempted to right his position by straightening his spinal chord and steadying himself. His arms felt like they were about to drop off and his shoulders each felt like a bag of marbles, his legs felt like they could hardly carry him. He glanced downwards momentarily and realised that his clothes had been slightly tattered from the battle.

Gray didn't look much better fore his jet black hair had been left almost as shaggy as Natsu's and he was also covered with marks and patches of dirt. His face had become partially bruised, as well as his arms and his chest and his knees trembled as though they were just about ready to surrender then buckle so he fell straight to the ground. His muscles twitched with pain and he clenched his jaw painfully.

Basically they both looked and felt like hell took the both of them into its mouth and spat them back out.

The pink-haired dragon slayer shakily raised one hand to furl his scarf tighter around his neck and cast a cursory glance towards where the children were and then focused his attention back to Gray...then seconds later he glanced back to the spot where the children were.

Or where they should have been.

Natsu blinked multiple times when he saw the empty patch of grass where both Nashi and Platinum had previously sat and he felt his pulse stir with panic. What could have possibly happened for this to be reality, certainly he was just seeing things —alas he quickly found the same thing whenever he'd refresh his vision again and again. His face turned completely white and his knuckles started trembling as his whole body started paling considerably.

This couldn't be happening.

"What's...what's the matter...Dragon breath? Had enough...?"

"G-G-G-G-Gray...!"

His muscles ached in protest when he raised his hands and made a 'time out' gesture.

His eyes were still fixed on the spot where Nashi and Platinum had previously been seen.

Gray's mind clouded with confusion and perplexity. What was going on? Why was he signing at him to stop the fight? Why was his focused turned entirely on the kids? He decided to also look to see where the children were but he was in for a shock.

Natsu and Gray each felt the blood in their bodies turn ice cold —for the latter, that was normal but it plummeted to a low temperature that not even he had felt too many times before yet it was a sheer sigh of terror nevertheless. Their whole worlds just slowed down and their hearts stopped beating inside their chests, their eyes were so wide that each of the Fairy tail wizards were pretty sure that they'd pop out of their sockets.

Their kids weren't there.

They were gone.

"Ooooh, Juvia is gonna kill me..."

"And Lucy is gonna _slaughter_ me..."

* * *

 **A/N: Here's the end of this chapter of Fire and Ice, can the kids be rescued?**

 **Find out next chapter!**

 **-Chloemcg**


	4. Reconciliation

**Disclaimer: I don't own Natsu nor Gray, I kind of own Nashi and Platinum but not really. I own NONE of the other characters in Fairy tail since they belong to Hiro Mashima and nobody else.**

 **Fire and ice**

* * *

The two fathers were absolutely frantic as they panicked.

Where had their children gone?!

Natsu and Gray could each feel their minds racing with fright as their faces turned as white as bed sheets and they tried to comprehend where their kids had gone? They stared at the place Nashi and Platinum were so hard that they each could have burned holes into that small patch of area with the intense staring from their eyes alone.

They each whisked their own sideways glances to each other, looking at each other for a swift few seconds, until Gray just about broke down into a fury.

The ice-make wizard's rage was so intense that he caused a sudden flurry, frost coated the ground and the sounds of crackling was heard as the blades of grass turned frozen stiff; the ice flurry made Natsu take a few steps back due to the intense blast of ice and snow as he raised his arm over his face to try and protect himself.

Natsu was completely caught off-guard when he was sent hurtling to the ground and fell face first, using the palms of his hands to break his fall and when he was able to take a quick glance over his shoulder, he found Gray looming over him with a pure look of fury on his face. The dragon slayer was quick to deduce that Gray had slammed him to the floor when he was caught unaware, and he was even more taken by surprise when he felt his foot press hard against his upper back to prevent him from sitting back up.

"What're you doing!?" The dragon slayer snapped.

Gray snapped back.

"Well don't dilly-dally! Sniff our kids out already!"

Natsu then realised what the ice-maker Fairy tail wizard was getting at, he was trying to get him to use his nose to track them and see where they went but he couldn't help but scowl sourly in silent anger. He understood that he was angry but the ice jerk didn't need to be so aggressive about it...

"Hey! What do I look like to you, a bloodhound!?"

Gray barked, his voice as cold as an arctic wind. "Natsu! We don't have time for this! Sniff out my son right now or so help me I'll make you into an ice statue..."

Natsu froze, onyx eyes flashing green.

He suddenly found himself sympathising with his rival since he could tell that Gray wasn't doing this out of malice or anything —he was doing this out of pure worry for his young son...just like how he was fretful for his young daughter. He couldn't help but frown softly as he felt his hands push down against the grass and rock beneath, trying to prevent himself from getting gravel in his mouth.

The pink-haired Fire wizard sent his rival a silent frown as he reflected on both of their actions.

They both seemed to get so competitive that they both lost sight of what truly mattered to them, their mission, the fact that they were from the same guild _and_ their little ones. Certainly they didn't get on well when they were younger but —to be truthful— that was only a guise to hide how they truly felt about each other as best friends, their competitive rivalry was just how they expressed themselves around each other.

Normally Erza would be there to (quite literally) bash their heads together but now they had to do it themselves.

The tension between both Gray and Natsu seemed to melt away within seconds.

Gray's face that had contorted with anger softened considerably as he seemed to calm down and he was silent for a few long moments before he just shook his head. He folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes.

"Look, Flame brain, if we're gonna save our kids then we're gonna have to work together."

Natsu closed his eyes and conceded with a single nod.

He knew Gray was right and it was time to admit that.

"Yeah...alright."

The fire wizard lowered his head (eyes still shut) and started sniffing the ground. He inhaled the heavy scents of earth, stone, grass and then he sniffed again which resulted in him catching the whiff of something which made him perk up instantly; he could smell the scent of flickering flames and vanilla, Nashi's scent, and the scent of milk that had been intermingled with what smelt like a frozen lake, which he could only assume was Platinum's scent.

He kept sniffing the air, making sure to hone in on that one scent that he caught and he started to raise himself on his hands and knees.

Gray saw this and promptly removed his foot from Natsu's back.

It was almost as if the pink-haired dragon slayer was being driven by pure instinct now. He watched with wide obsidian eyes as Natsu kept himself well-balanced on his hands and knees and proceeded to crawl over a small distance away, nose still firmly pointed to the ground. Normally Gray thought that this was really strange because he'd known about a Dragon slayers heightened sense of hearing and sense of smell but...seeing Natsu behave like a tracking dog was strangely in character but not something he was used to witnessing firsthand.

Then, suddenly, Natsu straightened as he leapt to his feet and he quickly jerked his head in a gesture to tell Gray to follow.

"I got 'em! C'mon!"

The two broke into a sprint as the two Fairy tail wizards ran through dense woodland foliage, weaved through tall sharp rocks and they both couldn't care less if they got home and they _both_ had to wear women's make-up for a whole week, that didn't even matter anymore.

Gray followed Natsu and Natsu followed his nose.

They ran and ran and ran...until they found themselves near a taller mountain range.

The two panted heavily as they finally stopped running and tried to catch their breath and recover their strength...they had to wonder how had their kids managed to travel so far away from them? How was it even possible? Nashi could barely walk on her own and Platinum was still too young to even say his first words, let alone take his first steps! How was this even possible!?

When they got closer, though, they found their answer.

Although it was the worst answer possible.

The two Fairy tail wizards froze at what they saw because there, up inside a giant nest, was Nashi and Platinum nestled in between a single large egg; it seemed that the two young children had fallen asleep in the snuggly warm nest that was made from a large amassment of bedding made from feathers and hay and the occasional twig here and there.

"Nashi/Platinum!"

The Ice and fire wizards yelled in unison, rushing over towards the suspended large cliff ledge where their children were being held hostage alas neither of them stirred as they seemed to sleep peacefully in the large nest. They seemed too far up to hear their respective fathers, even with Nashi's heightened sense of hearing —the two panicked Fairy tail wizards were quick to look at each other and then their surroundings as though an answer to their problems would just magically appear in front of them.

But no such luck.

Gray started to scratch his chin in deep thought.

He had a feeling that the bird they had been after all this time and seen Nashi and Platinum, snatched them up and decided to whisk them away to its nest and he had a feeling it was to feed that unborn hatchling that was nestled in between the babies.

Alright, so they found them.

But how could they get their kids down from there?

"O-Okay, okay...lets stay calm and remain rational about this. How can we get them down?" The shirtless ice wizard asked aloud as he tried his best to remain calm, but he was also hoping that it would keep Natsu pacified until they could come up with a good rescue plan.

Natsu tried his best to stay calm, for his daughter's sake, but seeing her in a giant birds nest and not being in his arms was becoming more than he could bare. He couldn't keep himself still as he stared up anxiously at the nest and he could swear that he was getting a crick in the back of his neck from looking up so much. His mind was racing.

How could they get down?

"PAPAAAAA!"

Natsu could feel his heart stop when he heard his daughter shrieking out.

He gasped as alarm bells rang loud in his mind and he tried to come up with a swift solution for this dilemma, he couldn't stand to watch his little girl to be in danger.

"H-Hang on, Nashi! Daddy's coming!"

Within three seconds, the Fire dragon slayer prepared to attack as he took a deep breath in. His onyx eyes flashed jade and his fists and legs ignited into flames, he could feel as fire filled his throat and made his cheeks start to inflate. " **FIRE DRAGON-** "

Before he could do anything, though, Gray was swift to slap Natsu's mouth closed. Natsu had no choice but to swallow the fire that was in his throat and mouth, but his eyes silently glared at the ice wizard as he felt nothing but confusion as to why he had been stopped from trying to rescue the two children.

He made an angry inquisitive muffled noise against the palm of his rival's hand to which the latter responded with a sharp scowl at the pink-haired pyro.

"You idiot, if you do that then you could hurt our kids!"

They were stuck...what could they do now?

* * *

 **A/N: Here's another chapter and it seemed that Natsu and Gray need to come up with a way to save Nashi and Platinum and fast.**

 **Can they do it?**

 **Stay tuned and find out!**

 **-Chloemcg**


	5. The rescue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Natsu nor Gray, I kind of own Nashi and Platinum but not really. I own NONE of the other characters in Fairy tail since they belong to Hiro Mashima and nobody else.**

 **Fire and ice**

* * *

Both Fairy tail wizards had no clue as to what they could do right now, but they knew that they had to rescue their children.

Nashi had awoken and started to cry for her father and that was tearing Natsu's heart out as all he could do was stand down below with pain written all across his face and he couldn't keep from gritting his fangs in pure frustration.

He never liked hearing his daughter cry out for him, it would always make his gut clench with guilt and sadness, and hearing such cries made him want to do nothing but hold his little girl in his arms once more but couldn't do a thing due to the fact that she was being held captive in some giant birds nest a little ways above the both of them.

Frustration simmered inside of him like a bubbling broth getting ready to explode due to pure pressure.

"How're we gonna get 'em down from there?" Natsu asked, his body twitching with agitation.

Gray somehow managed to remain both calm and rational still and managed to place a (literal) cool hand upon Natsu's strong shoulder and the ice wizard cringed just slightly when he felt that his pink-haired rival's posture had become so tense that the muscles making up his shoulders crackled and felt like a bag of marbles which popped just under his touch. The most shocking thing was that Natsu didn't even flinch when the muscles clicked in protest, his focus seemed entirely drawn on the giant birds nest containing both of their children.

Gray took a deep breath in to collect his thoughts and he gave the wizard with the scaly scarf a look of understanding, he could see the fear on Natsu's face as he felt nothing but fear of what would happen should either of the babies fall.

"I get it, you're shocked that Nashi's trapped up there and if we don't get both her and Plat down then, to put it simply, 'Down will come babies, cradle and all'..." After he decided that the easy way to actually put it in a tactful and subtle manner would be to make a quote from an all-to familiar lullaby, he cleared his throat and continued, "...But Nashi and Platinum need us both to calm down and think rationally."

The instantaneously shirtless ice-maker wizard nodded resolutely at his pink-haired rival.

"But in order to do that we gotta calm Nashi down. You're the only one who can do that."

Natsu's mind absorbed those words like some sort of sponge soaking up the information and he felt some of the tension melt away, it was as if his eyeballs were covered in dust, blinding him, but but listening to his frienemy's words made all the filth wash away and clear up. He glanced back up to look at the nest where both his daughter and Gray's son lay and saw his baby girl's sobbing face.

The fire dragon slayer fought back the urge to swallow a marble sized lump in his throat whilst he tried to prevent his voice betraying his overwhelming fears, he tried to throw on a tender smile that he hoped would pacify the frightened pink-haired one and a half-year-old.

"Don't cry, Nash-Nash just try and be a big brave girl for me!"

It seemed to work a little bit.

The little girl sniffled and sobbed as she finally started to stop crying. The fire dragon slayer felt a bit of relief whilst he started to grab hold of one of the vines that grew down, they seemed awfully thin though and it made Natsu fear that if he wasn't careful then each vine would snap like a twig being crushed under the sole of a foot. Nashi's lower lip quivered and her whole body trembled with a mixture of fear and probable coldness, she whimpered as she stared down at both her father and the ice-maker wizard from the terrifying height of the nest.

She even clung on tight to Platinum for security.

Seeing this made Natsu's heart break into a billion pieces. He never liked seeing any hint of sadness upon his baby girl's adorable chubby face, each time he would see it would make his heart feel as though it were about to break like glass shards.

He clenched his fists at his sides as he stared up at the giant birds nest. He didn't want to keep watching his darling little munchkin looking so frightened of the predicament she was in right now, he felt so guilty because he knew that if he didn't get so competitive then Nashi wouldn't be in this mess right now.

He could hear Nashi whimper and it was a sound that made Natsu feel totally helpless.

As Gray watched the display with pity, he struck upon an idea; it seemed that the bird had flown away for the time being so he figured that this was the most opportune moment to fetch their babies. There could be no better time.

What's more, it seemed that Natsu had hit upon the same mindset.

"I'm gonna go get the babies!" The dragon slayer proclaimed as he prepared himself for the umpteenth climb today.

Gray nodded as he folded his arms across his well-toned, muscular, bare chest.

"Sure. I'll stay down here and keep watch."

Without another word, Natsu approached the bottom of the cliff and grabbed on to a small rock sticking out along the wall as he pulled himself up. He could feel the muscles in his arms strain in protest as he used his arms to drag the weight of the rest of his own body up the small cliff-face.

The dragon slayer felt the cool winds —the same that made the tails of his scarf flutter— blow in his face as he ascended higher and higher whilst he tried climbing the vines up towards the cliff edge which contained the nest and their children. He couldn't help but have a tad difficulty breathing, though, due to being up so high...it was a miracle that their children seemed absolutely fine with no problems what so ever.

Natsu kept climbing nonetheless since he was desperate to get his daughter back safe and sound!

He felt a wide fanged smirk spread across his lips, the mere thought of reuniting with his baby and holding her in his arms once more making his heart skip a beat or two with complete and utter joy. He could practically feel her warm little pudgy body snuggling up against his chest already.

But then things took a turn.

"NATSU! LOOK OUT!"

Gray could be heard yelling out.

Natsu was caught off-guard again when something swooped over him and gripped to his scarf and lifted straight off the ground by the neck.

He yelped in both shock and pain when he was hoisted high up into the air and he frantically squirmed and wriggled to try and get his mystery kidnapper to release their grip on him. He had no clue as to what was happening right now but he could desperately feel a familiar sensation stir deep inside his stomach and he looked momentarily down at himself and saw that the shade of his arms were turning a pale colour.

Natsu jumped high into the air once more and decided to make an attempt at grabbing the tail feather they needed for this mission, he looked back down at Gray urgently. He needed to convey his new plan to the ice wizard even though he felt severely queasy.

"Alright, change of plan! You get the kids! I've got the overgrown chicken!"

Gray nodded resolutely, "Right!"

Natsu let out a squeak of a groan when he realised what was going on and placed a hand over his mouth, his body going floppy and his stomach churning painfully.

His motion sickness was acting up!

"...Nngh...!"

In his sickened state, Natsu could only manage a measly moan of a sound to communicate his discomfort. He somehow mustered up the energy and wriggled and squirmed in the mysterious clasp of whomever grabbed him and wildly searched his surroundings for the source of being snatched up so high.

It was only when he looked up that he realised that the bird had grabbed him in its huge talons.

His arms were bound but he did have an idea as he licked the sharp points of his front teeth, his tongue flinching at the sensation of each needlepoint digging in. He had fangs and what better way to utilise them in this situation? Not wasting time, he opened his mouth as wide as he could and then he clamped his mouth down hard so his fangs would sink into the bird's leg.

The bird let out a loud screech of pain in response —it's cries of pain were so tremendous that the very air itself start to violently rumble.

For a split second, Natsu felt a twinge of nostalgia hit him directly in the heart; he almost felt reminded of a dragons roar...of Igneel's roar. Each time he would be reminded of his late adopted father, he'd feel somewhat saddened for a split few seconds...until he'd snap himself out of his trance by shaking his head and blinking his eyes three times.

He couldn't get sentimental right now!

The bird caught the dragon slayer off guard once more when it swiftly knocked Natsu by slamming his whole body with its entire right talon, sending the dragon slayer upwards. After the dragon slayer was sent flying out of sight, the bird continued its rampage in the skies as it seemed to threaten those whom had intruded on its nest.

Little did it know that shaking off Natsu Dragneel, a legend of the Fairy tail guild, was a huge mistake.

The Pinkette soared straight up through the clouds as he managed to recollect his thoughts. He had to play his next cards oh-so carefully because if he lost his focus, even for an instant, then he would probably be in for a painful landing.

He flipped himself in midair so he could look down towards the ground.

Right now there were only clouds.

He started to fall down but he couldn't help but take notice of the fact that fire was beginning to engulf him as he was probably falling at the speed of a meteorite by now. Seeing the bursts of orange start to surround him as he made his quickening descent caused a little smirk to curl upon his lips. Without wasting another instant, Natsu opened his mouth and started to suck up all the flames into his mouth.

Even though he didn't have much fire surrounding him from the beginnings of the impact he was probably going to make soon, the flames crackling in his mouth made his cheeks swell slightly —like a chipmunk whose cheeks were overflowing with nuts.

After doing that, he closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath, blocking out all noises and distractions, focusing every inch of his being on to making the weak flames burning his hands even stronger. He could feel the puny flames on his fists surrounding him intensify, especially as he straightened his posture and his eyes flew open again.

"Heh! I'm all fired up now!"

Natsu started to spin in midair. He spun so fast that he became a whirl of salmon pink, orange, tan, black and grayish-white and it didn't take him too long until he plummeted so the bird was back in his sights. His onyx eyes flashed jade.

" **FIRE DRAGON SWORD HORN!** " The dragon slayer exclaimed powerfully, his head igniting into bursts of flames.

It was the birds turn to be caught completely off guard as it heard Natsu's incantation and looked up just in time for the fire wizard to head butt it directly in the head, ear-bleedingly loud cries exploded through the skies and Natsu, taking advantage of the distraction, grabbed on tight to its back as he somehow managed to pin one of the birds wings to its left side to prevent it from flying any higher...he fought back the bile that constantly threatened to spew from his mouth as he was being tossed about, still he never let go.

He felt the wind get knocked from his chest as both himself and the giant bird started to fall.

The bird let out a painful screeching noise, kind of like a hawk or an eagle or something, as it dived towards the ground thanks to the wizard pinning one of its wings to one side and it flapped its other wing in a desperate attempt to try and save itself. It kicked its talons wildly and flailed desperately.

Then it hit the ground.

Hard.

Natsu was sent flying a small distance away because of the impact and he fell face-first to the ground. He was almost sent flying off the mountain range but had managed to rescue himself just before he could end up tumbling down the side. Before he could even register what else was happening, the bird had quickly recovered from the fall and had leapt up and spread its wings quicker than the lash of a whip.

The dragon slayer sat up and watched as the ginormous bird took to the skies and flew off into the distance.

Natsu unsteadily rose to his own two feet. His shoulders started to ache and both of his knees threatened to start buckling as he somehow found the strength to stand, he heaved deep breaths in and out to try and catch it and regain his composure. He could feel the fires surrounding him start to die down into cinders, leaving patches of rock and grass charred black. The pink-haired wizard sighed deeply as a curl of smoke blew from his right nostril.

Now that was taken care of, he knew that it was time now to focus on the-!

His thoughts were interrupted when a loud cry bellowed through the woodlands. It was a cry that made his heart take a huge plummet all the way down into his intestines and it was hearing that cry made Natsu break into an quick sprint as he became very desperate to reach his daughter and see what was happening, he'd thought that Gray had rescued them by now!

Natsu dashed so quick that the trees and mountainous pillars basically whirled by him in a blur, he was running so fast that veins stuck out and pulsated against his forehead and arms as a surge of adrenaline rushed through his bloodstream, his legs were moving even faster than he could command them, in fact he was frightened that he'd trip if he didn't slow down soon.

He knew that he couldn't afford to do that and he had to find out what was happening!

Moments slipped away until the pink-haired dragon slayer skidded to a sudden halt and looked up, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped at what he saw.

Nashi had climbed to the edge of the next to look down at both her father and Gray, whom had started to try climbing the rocky ledges to reach both her and Platinum. Gray was trying his best to get up there as quickly as humanly possible so he could hopefully reach the two younglings in time before they fell. The little pink-haired toddler gurgled nervously and she appeared to be on her hands and knees as she peered down from the ledge to look at the two adults.

Gray ground his teeth as he called up to them, trying his best to smooth the anxiety from his voice but failing miserably at it, "D-Don't move! Please! I'm coming!"

Neither Nashi nor Platinum seemed to understand the Ice make mage's words as they just looked down at him with pure confusion etched upon their chubby faces. The two babies were standing in a crawling position but they appeared to have been terrifyingly close to the edge of the nest where one wrong move could end up with the two falling to the ground. A curious Platinum even took a few shuffles closer to peer down and look at his father.

Of course neither of the babies had an affinity for up and down just yet.

Then the unthinkable happened.

Nashi's arm gave way and slipped, meaning she and Platinum each simultaneously toppled out from the edge of the nest and started falling to the rocky ground below. The babies started to cry out in both panic and fright as they both fell down and down and down.

Each Natsu and Gray could feel both of their hearts leap high into their throats as full-on panic set in; neither of them could shout out an incantation as the babies would probably hit the ground and hurt themselves before they could do anything with their magic.

Alas they couldn't sit by either, they had to do something!

"Hang on, kids! I'm coming!"

Gray was quick to throw himself towards the ground, he stretched both arms out in order to the children whom were falling at an alarming speed.

Time slowed to a torturous crawl.

The shirtless ice sorcerer ran as fast as he could as panic overrode his senses and every single one of his thoughts were clouded and replaced with worry for his little son and the little girl. He wouldn't let them get hurt, he could never let that happen! His heart was pounding in his throat and he couldn't keep his mind from racing with so many scenarios and thoughts.

His heart sped up when the babies plummeted down from the sky.

Nashi and Platinum cried as they fell.

It was just in time for Gray to slam down on his front, slide forwards and both Nashi and Platinum fell into his muscular arms.

The Ice mage almost fainted with relief that he had managed to catch them just in the nick of time and he couldn't stop shaking either. He slowly picked himself up off the ground and cradled both children to his chest as they whimpered and cried out of fear for what had just transpired. A burst of sympathy blew in Gray's chest as he felt so sorry for the kids, they must had been so scared and what did their fathers do? Only care for themselves...

Natsu rushed right up, he grabbed Nashi from Gray's arms and nuzzled his face into her little tufts of salmon pink hair lovingly as he tried shushing and rocking her to calm her (and himself) down. Nashi whimpered and snuffled softly but quickly calmed down in her father's loving arms.

"Hey, hey...shhh...it's okay, daddy's here, daddy's got you..."

Gray did the same thing Natsu did and he, too, tried calming Plat down. Platinum was even more shaken up then Nashi was and he was cooing but sobbing at the same time as he buried his tiny face in his father's bare chest, the tip of his tiny button nose bright red from upset.

"Yeah...it's going to be alright, little man, I'm here...your daddy's here too..."

The two fathers caressed their precious son/daughter by rubbing soothing circles on their backs individually; it didn't take long for all to be quiet between the two fairy tail fathers as they soothed their children whom had just been rescued. The silence brewing between the two rivals quickly became extremely awkward.

So Natsu decided to break it.

"So...who got the feather?"

* * *

 **A/N: Here's another chapter of "Fire and Ice", hope you guys like it!**

 **Next chapter is the finale and I hope to make it as cute and fluffy as possible.**

 **Please review and fave.**

 **-Chloemcg**


	6. Homecoming

**Disclaimer: I don't own Natsu nor Gray, I kind of own Nashi and Platinum but not really. I own NONE of the other characters in Fairy tail since they belong to Hiro Mashima and nobody else.**

 **Fire and ice**

* * *

The tension in the air was so thick that one could slice it with a knife as Natsu and Gray stared at each other in mild disbelief.

Neither of them obtained a single, solitary feather from that giant bird? Did they honestly forget to grab that feather before it flew away to another location? Does this mean that they now had to follow that bird until they get the feather and complete the mission? Did they really have to do it all over again!? All of those questions buzzed in both Natsu and Gray's minds as the implication of all of this hit them like a back-handed smack to the face.

Within seconds, the two rivals leaned towards each other so they could have an uncomfortable stare down, they were so close that the tips of their noses were centimetres away from touching each other.

Both pairs of onyx eyes were narrowed as the two (again) started to quarrel.

"YOU MORON!" Gray bellowed angrily, his face a mask of the purest form of rage imaginable, "WHEN YOU SAID —AND I QUOTE— " _you get the babies, and I get the overgrown chicken_ ," I THOUGHT THAT YOU MEANT YOU WERE GONNA GET THAT DUMB TAIL FEATHER! NOT SCARE THE DUMB BIRD AWAY!"

"H-HEY! DON'T YELL AT ME, ICE PRINCESS, I WOULD'VE GRABBED IT IF MY MOTION SICKNESS WASN'T ACTING UP!" Natsu retaliated defensively.

"YOU ARE SO LAME!"

The two wizards were now at each other's throats and were preparing to duke it out for the third or fourth time today when they suddenly heard a high-pitched, giggly noise. It was a sound that Natsu recognised almost instantly and his eyes widened slightly in response to hearing it and was

also that very same noise which brought both Gray and the pink-haired man back to their senses.

When Natsu looked over his shoulder to investigate said sound, his jaw dropped to the ground at what he saw.

Nashi giggled delightedly as she suddenly raised a hand up with a bright rainbow feather clasped tight in her little fist and it was pretty big as well, it shimmered like the sharp edge of a sword that was caught in the golden sunlight beaming down from above.

"Feh! Feh-feh!" She gurgled with delight.

She was smiling so wide that she was easily exposing her teeny little fangs.

Natsu nor Gray could believe their eyes; Nashi grabbed hold of the feather! It just had been left in the nest and the little girl must have grabbed it in her curious, little, pudgy hands. She held on to the feather for dear life as she shook it up and down...she even tried shoving the tip of it in her mouth, but her father was swift to stop her from doing so out of fear of his daughter getting a mouth full of germs or something.

Regardless, Natsu couldn't be prouder of his bundle of joy.

"Thatta girl, Nash-Nash!"

Natsu started to reach behind him to grab the feather out of Nashi's clasp. He watched Nashi carefully but the second he even placed a hand on top of the feather, he noticed that Nashi was holding on to it even tighter, whimpering when her father tried to take her new toy away. The fire dragon slayer felt a false smile curling at the corners of his lips as he tried not to let his desperation show itself.

"C'mon, munchkin, daddy needs that feather so uncle Gray could wear women's makeup for the rest of the week!"

Nashi seemed understand what her father was telling her and her face scrunched up, loud whimpers slid from her throat, and her lower lip started to tremble with upset as she looked just about ready to explode into tears. Her eyes squeezed themselves shut and she started to make a loud whining noise, communicating obvious upset when confronted with the prospect of the feather being taken away from her.

Natsu _couldn't stand_ seeing that look.

He grimaced as he relented.

"Alright...you can hold on to it for me..."

Nashi perked up instantly as she started stroking the father down with her tiny stubby fingers as she babbled happily.

Natsu didn't know what he was going to do about winning the bet now, but what he did know was that he just wanted to get back to Magnolia where he could snuggle up with his wife and probably put Nashi down for her nap; he suddenly felt exhaustion crash over him like a tidal wave and his body felt like lead as he fought back a yawn. The fire dragon slayer looked to Gray tiredly and quickly noticed that the ice-maker mage also looked exhausted as he cradled a sleeping Platinum in his arms.

Perhaps that fight earlier had taken more out of them then they had originally thought.

He sighed as he did his best to straighten out his posture, his muscles aching slightly in protest, and he took a deep breath in whilst he tried to prepare himself for some more walking. The pink-haired Fire wizard nodded at Gray and then he said quite loudly to him and the children, "Let's go home..."

The group of Fairy tail guild wizards started to walk away, hoping to get home as soon as possible.

But Natsu feel Nashi shift about in her scarf strap, as though she were turning herself around or something and then he felt something tug hard on his ponytail. Feeling the sharp pulling made Natsu glance over his shoulder to investigate what was happening behind him, especially with his daughter, and he was gobsmacked to see Nashi was staring back wide-eyed at the nest, not taking her eyes off of it for an instant.

Natsu stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed his baby girl looking up _really_ intently at the nest where she and Platinum were just held captive and he couldn't help but notice that her focus seemed centred entirely on the large singular egg that was occupying it and she was looking kind of...worried.

It hit the girl's father then.

Nashi probably wanted to bring the egg with them.

Natsu was seriously not sure about this. Of course this egg had been abandoned when it's mother flew away but he felt a bit anxious about being such a massive predator back to his house...he felt a bit conflicted about what he should do but one look at his daughter just made his heart sink. Despite being so young, Nashi had somehow managed the "puppy" eyes as she made them as large and pleading as possible...and she knew exactly when to utilise this to her advantage.

Her eyes kept getting bigger and bigger and more watery as she stared at her father.

"Ohhhh...Okay! Okay! We'll take it with us!" Natsu finally relented to his daughter's silent begging and, without another word, simply passed Nashi over to Gray as he proceeded to stroll back over and started to climb up the rocky ledges and as he ascended up the cliff side, he could feel the wind blow in his face and catch his spiky pink hair in a gentle breeze.

It didn't take too long before he procured the egg and when he reached down and grabbed it from the nest, he held the egg tight and he quickly noticed that it was pretty heavy —even heavier than any other eggs that he held before. He grunted heavily as he picked up the unborn bird egg, he could feel his spinal cord twist as he struggled a bit under the extra weight.

"Nnngh..."

He breathed hisses of breaths through clenched fangs.

It only took a minute or so until he grew accustomed to the weight and he jumped back down to meet Gray, Nashi and Platinum who watched the entire scene unfold with intrigue and interest. Natsu skidded to a stop in front of the group of three and smirked when an idea hit like a bolt of lightning.

"Hey, Gray! I've got another proposition for you!" He flashed the ice wizard a fanged smirk.

Gray tilted his head to one side in confusion.

Another proposition?

Natsu shuffled the egg into one arm and took his daughter back from Gray, the little girl giggling with delight when she spotted the giant egg being cradled in the arm of her father and, after the fire dragon slayer had adjusted to the pair of weights, the air surrounding him had become filled with confidence as he suggested with a tone overflowing with this smug desire to challenge his rival.

He decided to say his challenge in the most simplest and quickest way possible.

"You and me. Race down the mountain. Whoever wins and gets to the village first gets to buy the next drink of the winner at the bar in the guildhall."

Gray didn't take too long to respond to the dragon slayer as he returned the smirk.

"Okay...lets just try and not too competitive, though."

"Agreed."

* * *

Thankfully the trip back to Magnolia was the tiniest bit easier on the dragon slayer and his daughter, in spite of the fact that Natsu had to board a train to get back and that was torturous...honestly the thing that made his trip a tad more bearable was that he managed to focus a bit more on his daughter, so much so that whence he started playing with her that it subtly dulled his motion sickness —and having being the winner of the race scaling down the mountain amplified his cheerfulness.

It felt as though only ten minutes went by (when it was actually two hours and twenty minutes) when he had finally made it to his destination.

He was now standing so his, Happy and Lucy's cottage was just in front of him. Natsu loved the scent of fresh air and the melodic sounds of birds chirping intermingled with his heightened sense of hearing.

It imbued him with this sense of peacefulness.

It was good to be home as Natsu entered through the front door with Nashi securely strapped to his back once more and a certain precious cargo being cradled in one arm. It still felt really heavy but he was very careful not to break the egg —he managed to hatch two eggs in the past so he knew exactly how delicate he needed to handle it.

The house was quiet as Natsu stepped into the main room of the cottage and he could feel nothing but happiness to finally be back at his home.

All he wanted to do now was lay down in bed and have a nice long nap to try and recuperate and regain his energy, it was almost as if the call of his bed was a sirens song which he was unable to resist; just the thought of him being buried beneath the covers of his bed made him smile with the purest of contentment. He could hardly wait to lay down in his bed and then relax for awhile until Lucy came-

"Natsu."

The dragon slayer froze, eyes wide with terror as his train of thought came to a screeching halt.

He turned around slowly and found himself staring at Lucy, who had her arms folded across her chest as she gave him every signal possible that she was less then thrilled with him such as tapping her foot in an impatient rhythm and quirking her brow at him. The pinkette felt goosebumps dot up along his arms as he broke into a cold sweat of anxiety, and he grew increasingly worried that Lucy would use one of her Celestial spirits to tear him to shreds.

Admittedly, Natsu knew he could take them on if he had to but he didn't want to infuriate his wife any further; Lucy had known him long enough to tell whence he had done something that she wouldn't have been pleased with.

A few very uncomfortable seconds passed between the two wizards and neither spoke a word to him one another as the rising tension in the air steadily increased as the Celestial mage didn't take her deep brown eyes away from her husband, not even for an instant, as she abruptly spoke up with a tone tighter then a pretzel knot.

"What's going on? Why do you have that egg, and why do you look like you've been dragged through miles and miles of thorn bushes?"

Natsu really didn't want to answer her questions. He knew that he was probably still covered in tree sap and had the occasional twig sticking out of his hair, and he really didn't want to tell her what had happened because she would probably give him a worse time then Erza would...but he couldn't lie to his wife either, she would get the truth out of him eventually and it would be better to get the truth out now rather then later.

The dragon slayer struggled to find the words.

"U-Um...f-f-funny story, Luce, you see...w-well, I guess what happened was...uhhh..."

A short silence stemmed between the couple.

Lucy didn't say a thing for several seconds until she passed her baby girl over to Happy, whom had hovered idly by to see what was about to unfold, and she requested "Happy. You take Nashi and put her in her crib for me, alright? I'll be there to tuck her in in a minute..."

"A-Aye sir..."

Happy couldn't argue because he could easily hear the tightness in the Celestial mage's voice, she was probably in her "over-protective-mother" mood and it was so intimidating that it _almost_ paled in comparison to even Erza's unbridled wrath. Happy guessed that Lucy didn't want her daughter to be involved in any which way in what was about to happen so she wanted her out of the picture until she gave Natsu a piece of her mind.

Besides, Happy knew better than to question a mother's actions and the blue exceed activated his Aera magic, flapping his wings softly, and he took Nashi from Natsu's arms.

"Upsy-daisy, Nashi..."

The blue cat scooped up the half-year-old, it seemed that she could barely keep her eyes open at this point as she cooed sleepily, and the exceed could barely hold her since she was barely the same size as he was as he cradled her delicately in his paws. He loved holding and spending time with his "baby sister", and he also loved to snuggle up to her when she slept —Happy's favourite thing to do was shower Nashi with oodles of love.

So, without another word, Happy hoisted Nashi up into the air and proceeded to glide swiftly out of the room.

Alas it was the second that the younger members of the family were gone that Lucy decided to unleash her blazing wrath unto the Dragon slayer; she glowered at her husband with flames of righteous anger blazing in her coffee brown pools and she had her teeth visibly clenched —it was blatantly obvious because of the way her chin had stiffened.

Natsu felt a small drop of sweat start trickling down his face and he threw on the most reassuring yet fearful grin ever.

"Natsu Dragneel!" She seethed, "This situation had better not be what I think it is! You better not have taken our baby on a dangerous mission because if you had then I'll pull your scarf so hard that your head would pop off due to the pressure!"

 _Crack!_

Both Natsu and Lucy froze when they heard that noise.

They both peered down simultaneously and stared at the egg and both were shocked to realise that the egg shook as a little airline crack slowly grew on the surface of the eggshell. Natsu felt his heart jump into his throat with panic and he tried to keep his feet glued to the spot, although they desperately wanted to skitter in place. The egg shook from side-to-side and then, without any warning whatsoever, the egg practically jumped out of the dragon slayer's arms and tumbled to the floor before rolling into the nursery —thankfully the egg didn't break upon falling to the floor.

Natsu and Lucy glanced over at each other momentarily disbelievingly as the egg rolled off.

What had just happened!?

The husband and wife pair had forgotten themselves as they rushed into their daughter's nursery, threw open the door, and found that the egg had somehow jumped into the crib to be with Nashi and Happy was watching in pure stunned shock (his look mirroring Natsu and Lucy's exactly) as they watched what happened.

Nashi sat up in her crib as she watched the egg intently, observing as the broken shell fell apart in some sort of domino effect until a small bald creature —only just big enough to be considered Happy's size— lay in the mess of shell, it was soaked throughly with fluid that came from the amniotic sack.

The squinty hatchling chirped as it squirmed and wriggled across the crisp material of the crib mattress, blindly making its way towards Nashi whom looked down at the creature with pure awe. She lay her arms down and proceeded to wrap her arms gently around the chick so it could climb on to her lap. When it did this, Nashi scooped it up and snuggled it with the utmost care.

The sight was heart-warming, to say the least.

It didn't take long until Nashi started to grow tired again as she cooed sleepily with the baby chick still being carefully held in her arms. She lay down on the mattress with the bird and she let out a tired little noise as she closed her eyes and eased herself back into the pillow.

The baby bird let out a small purr-like noise of contentment as it nuzzled against Nashi's rising and falling chest.

Lucy couldn't help but feel her heart melt when she witnessed this adorable scene and she smiled softly at her baby girl and pulled her blanket over her small body, covering her with it to make her all warm as she settled down for a nap. The baby bird and the half-year-old cuddled up together in the crib as they fell fast asleep and seemed perfectly content as they snoozed away. The Celestial wizard loved seeing her baby girl sleep so peacefully and while she knew that someday her little Nashi would probably grow to be as energetic and rambunctious as her father, she would always treasure these memories...

Lucy bent down into the crib and kissed Nashi on the head as she took in the softness of her daughter's skin and, after she straightened her posture back up, the Celestial mage closed her eyes and sighed with her smile dropping when she glanced to her husband whom stood beside her to watch the lovely sight of little Nashi asleep with her new friend.

Rage still simmered within her but she stuffed it down, she didn't want to unleash her fury in her daughter's nursery.

Then she looked to Happy whom was perched on one of the bars of the crib and the second her eyes settled upon him, the pre-teen Exceed sat straight up attentively and looked back at the two parents with the most focused expression ever seen; usually Happy was asked to take care of anything to do with the baby and he loved those jobs.

He listened intently to whatever instructions Lucy had for him.

"Happy, can you stay here with Nashi and make sure she doesn't wake up while I have a talk with Natsu?" She whispered to avoid waking Nashi, trying her best not to send a particularly angered, mephistophelian scowl her husband's way.

Natsu cowered beneath his wife's piercing glare.

Happy nodded and watched as the blonde Celestial mage grabbed hold of the tails of Natsu's scaly scarf and started to drag him out of the nursery behind her, Natsu's face growing increasingly pale as he silently pled for someone to rescue him from his own wife's rage.

Alas then came the time where Lucy demanded Natsu tell her everything that had transpired during her time away to the Celestial realm.

Natsu recounted the time he'd picked out the mission from the guildhall mission board, thinking that it would be a safe mission to bring their daughter along, meeting Gray and baby Platinum after a terrible train ride, challenging him to that bet, encountering the bird that they were hunting, falling into a tree, both Natsu and Gray getting into a competitive rival brawl, losing their kids in the process, Nashi and Platinum getting held hostage by the previously-mentioned giant bird and taken to her nest along with her only egg, Natsu and Gray coming together to rescue the children, Natsu chasing the giant bird away, rescuing the egg from the nest and then returning home.

Lucy scowled darkly, obviously not amused with what her husband had just admitted to her. She pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to fight off an oncoming migraine as she tried to keep herself from actually summoning all of her Celestial spirits and getting him to beat the snot out of Natsu for being so stupid.

"So let me get this straight; you took our precious baby on a dangerous mission, found Gray, climbed up a mountain, challenged a stupid bird, lost our girl as a result _and_ almost got both Nashi as well as baby Platinum killed over a bet you idiots made?!"

Natsu grimaced at his wife's raising vocal pitch as she listed each thing that was mentioned.

Lucy scowled at her husband as she silently grabbed the feather —the cause of all this chaos— from Natsu's grip then she watched as her husband cowered before her and she commanded as though she were an infuriated mother unloading a punishment meant for her disobedient child.

"I'll deliver the feather to the client, Natsu, and I expect you to wear makeup for the whole week right along with Gray, you will get some food for our new family member _and_ you will sleep on the sofa for a fortnight. Understand?"

Natsu knew that Lucy was talking about that little chick that Nashi grew attached to and figured out pretty quickly that the little bird was now apart of the family...he feared strongly about how big it would be when it grew up...and although he objected strongly, he didn't dare argue with Lucy as he just nodded feebly and gulped.

"U-Understood, s-s-sweetie..."

* * *

 **A/N: This is the finale of "Fire and Ice".**

 **Nashi gets a new friend, Natsu manages to get in serious trouble with Lucy, he (sort of) wins the bet and everything is good again.**

 **Thanks for reading this, guys, and I shall make more FT next gen fics in the future but it may take awhile.**

 **Please review and fave.**

 **-Chloemcg**


	7. Punishment

**Disclaimer: I don't own Natsu nor Gray, I kind of own Nashi and Platinum but not really. I own NONE of the other characters in Fairy tail since they belong to Hiro Mashima and nobody else.**

 **Fire and ice**

* * *

 _A few days later..._

Lucy had made good on her threat and not only delivered the feather from the mission to the client but also forced her pink-haired husband to put on some women's makeup and, to make things worse, Lucy even decided to go straight to the guild and hammer the lesson in so the next time the pink-haired dragon slayer had the idiotic thought of taking Nashi on missions while she was still a baby casually strolling his mind, as well as involving their daughter with a bet, not only would he not act on it but also deeply think of the consequence should he do so.

Thankfully, Natsu seemed to have got the message.

However neither him nor Gray were too happy.

Natsu was brooding on the fact that he had been forced by his wife to join in Gray's humiliation as punishment for bringing baby Nashi on a dangerous mission and he wasn't the slightest bit happy about the arrangement as he was openly mocked and ridiculed by the other members of the guild right along with the "Ice princess" and things got a bit worse when it seemed that Lucy had explained to Juvia what had happened and she decided to add to the punishment by making Gray and Natsu go outside to be humiliated even further by passers by.

Neither were too thrilled about this.

The fire dragon and ice maker mages both sat on stools, sulking with their arms folded grumpily across their chests. Their faces were covered in white makeup with cherry red lipstick colouring their lips and blue eyeliner giving their eyelids a sky blue tint; clearly neither of them were the least bit pleased with their new appearance as they scowled darkly at the rest of their friends.

Everyone whom witnessed their new looks tried their hardest to hold in their fits of laughter.

But they were failing miserably.

"Pfft...that lipstick suits you!" Gajeel chuckled, not even bothering to hide how he was finding this supremely hilarious to look at.

Natsu and Gray instantly threw the Iron dragon slayer filthy scowls. They didn't like that they were being mocked now and they even felt their tolerance levels of their predicaments start to boil over. Seriously, smoke would have been blowing out of their ears should it have been physically possible. Onyx eyes flashing an emerald green, Natsu snapped, raising a fiery first up towards the other dragon slayer as he grit his fangs with pure fury.

"Oh really, metal jerk!? I think my first would suit your face!"

"For once, I agree with pinky!" Gray added, also raising his fist which had become coated in ice.

One thing led to another and, eventually, the public display of humiliation turned into a battle between three Fairy tail wizards; Natsu and Gray tackled Gajeel and the three quickly got into a very violent tussle and they didn't even bother to acknowledge that a large crowd of people had gathered around to witness the brawl between two wizards wearing make up and the former enemy known as "Black steel".

* * *

 _Meanwhile, inside the guild..._

Music played, exceeds flew about idly, and everybody in the hall chatted amongst themselves. The guild was as lively and noisy as ever. Everyone was chatting and making merry as everybody took in the jolly atmosphere and had fun, actually everybody couldn't be more happier of the delightful atmosphere that hung over everybody in the entire guildhall.

The ladies (with the exception of two certain male exceeds) all sat around as they observed the newest member of the Dragneel family.

Mira-jane, Lisanna, Levy, Juvia and Platinum, Carla and even Pather Lilly had surrounded a table where Lucy sat with Nashi sat on her lap and Happy was watching with keen interest as Nashi was playing with her new pet, Ember, whom had already started to grow feathers around her small body; the plumage that covered the growing birds body was originally a pale orange colour but had started to take on the mixed colours of a rainbow.

The bird had also already grown to be the same size as Happy, giving both Natsu and Lucy the prediction that they needed to eventually find a bigger place to keep their baby girl's new pet. Ember was snuggling happily against Nashi as she let out soft purring sounds, resting her head against her owner's chest. It was clear as day that the bird had loved Nashi greatly and was happiest when she was by her side, ever since Ember hatched she was basically glued to Nashi's side and had to go everywhere with her.

It was quite sweet, admittedly.

"Y'know, girls," Lucy started in a light conversational tone of voice, "I think Nashi needed a little friend —I mean I was thinking about trying to convince Natsu about getting Nashi her own Celestial spirit if she's able to activate the keys."

As Lucy was saying this, she leaned back a bit in her seat a bit while she conversed with the others as they, in turn, stared at her with their utmost undivided attention. The blonde held her daughter close against her stomach with the youngling's tiny legs straightening so her feet could touch her mother's knees, standing with support. She felt her heart grow warm with complete adoration for her one and only daughter and she felt nothing but joy whenever she would hold her close.

In the meantime, however, that something with said daughter was actually occupying herself.

Nashi had noticed that Platinum was sitting nearby and staring at her with large yet curious eyes...but he also seemed rather cautious about the bird snuggling against the pink-haired toddler. Her brown eyes softened as she saw the younger boy being cradled in Juvia's arms acting fearful, just like he had when he'd first met her a few days prior. Little Platinum shuddered and whimpered softly, a thumb in his mouth as his eyes watered out of fear of the bird just a few centimetres away.

Nashi seemed confused for a moment or so as she thought on how to get her friend not to be so frightened anymore. She made a humming coo of a sound and then an idea popped into her mind whilst she smiled a smile that exposed her growing fangs and she cooed happily. She shifted around, moving her wobbly little legs so she could turn on her mother's lap and started to tug on the sleeve of her long-sleeved shirt.

Lucy stopped chatting and looked down at her daughter.

"Huh? What is it, sweetie?" She asked and Nashi responded by stretching her arms floppily out towards the trembling infant sitting on Juvia's lap.

Lucy followed her baby's gaze and it quickly landed on Platinum and she noticed how scared he seemed, sympathy quickly settled in the pit of her stomach and she refocused her gaze back on Nashi as the realisation of what her little girl was trying to ask of her dawned upon her. A gentle smile settled upon her lips, a giggle flying from them, and her dark brown eyes softened as she asked the little pinkette "Oh? You wanna go and cheer Platinum up?"

Nashi gurgled in delight in response.

Lucy was more then happy to oblige to her daughter's wishes as she lifted her off her lap and held her towards Platinum. The little ice/water wizard seemed to cast a timid look at Nashi as he looked her in the eye, they both shared a small amount of silence.

"Just be careful, honey..." The Celestial wizard told her daughter softly as the two babies looked at one another.

Nashi and Platinum looked at one another as though unsure of how to react at first and the latter appeared rather watery-eyed as he whimpered softly while the former waited for a moment until she wrapped both arms around him and squeezed him tightly with as much affection possible. Nashi let out a sweet coo as she closed her eyes and heaved a soft exhale from her nostrils, feeling Platinum melting with relaxation in her hug and he seemed to smile too as he closed his eyes too.

This adorable display was met with a choir of "Awwwws" from just about everyone in the guild.

Neither Nashi nor Platinum moved or made a sound as they just soaked in their hug.

Erza commented softly as she watched the adorable scene unfolding, "I wonder how sweet it would be if Nashi and Platinum became a thing in the future..."

Everyone thought about that, including Happy and Ember and Lily. If that were to happen then it certainly would be quite adorable —especially given the relationship of the fathers of the two infants the subject was based on. It certainly would be both adorable and hilarious at the same time...not to mention it would inspire quite a few moments of amusement; indeed the scenario was possible, especially looking at them now, but there was a slight problem that would get in the way of that.

Both Lucy and Juvia cast a glance out the guildhall doors where Natsu, Gray and Gajeel were still fighting and they both hung and then shook their heads with a deep sigh.

"I think if that were to happen then Natsu and Gray would lose their heads." Lucy said.

"And then they would probably kill each other." Juvia added.

* * *

 **A/N: TA-DAAAAAH! SURPRISE EPILOGUE! So the bird has been named Ember and Natsu and Gray aren't happy about having to wear make up in public...and then having a fight with Gajeel to boot.**

 **Hope you liked it, guys!**

 **-Chloemcg**


End file.
